Litigation nation

Curses, foiled againCarlos Ruiz, 42, stole a sound system and other values from a home in Haddon Township, N.J., according to police, who identified him as their suspect after he returned a half-hour later for the remote he forgot the first time. (NJ.com)

Christopher Brent Fulton, 30, surrendered to authorities after seeing his photo as the suspect being sought for attempted bank robbery in Midwest City, Okla. He handed the teller a holdup note written on the back of a personal check but left it behind when he fled empty-handed, thinking he had tripped an alarm. The personal information on the check had been scratched out with a pen, but investigators were still able to read it and determine it belonged to Fulton’s mother. (Oklahoma City’s KOCO-TV)

Litigation nationAfter losing $500,000 at a Las Vegas casino, retired car dealer Mark Johnston is suing the Downtown Grand for comping him dozens of drinks and lending him money to continue playing while he “was blackout intoxicated,” according to his attorney, Sean Lyttle. Johnston, who lives in Ventura, Calif., has been a Las Vegas regular for three decades. (Associated Press)

Six months after being rescued from his upside-down car during Colorado’s historic flooding, Roy Ortiz filed a notice of intent to sue his rescuers at North Metro Fire Department. He claims they didn’t rescue him quickly enough. (Denver’s KCNC-TV)

Up in the airAt least 150 commercial flights have landed at the wrong airport or started to land and realized their mistake in time, according to government safety data and news reports since the early 1990s. The biggest trouble spot is Moffett Field, a joint civilian-military airport in San Jose, Calif., where six flights heading for Mineta San Jose International Airport 10 miles to the southeast have tried to land. Most incidents occur at night, when pilots have disregarded their navigation equipment because the information didn’t match what they were seeing out their windows. “You’ve got these runway lights, and you are looking at them, and they’re saying, ‘Come to me, come to me. I will let you land.’ They’re like the sirens of the ocean,” said former Air Force pilot Michael Barr, who teaches aviation safety at the University of California. (Associated Press)

After a jet aborted its takeoff at Florida’s MacDill Air Force Base because the crew thought it had hit a bird, possibly an osprey, wildlife manager Lindsey Garven searched the runway for a dead bird but found only a fish. DNA samples from the fish and the jet confirmed the accident was a fish strike. Garven said the 9-inch sheepshead was probably dropped by a bird that had been eating it on the runway until the jet scared it off. The incident is only the second reported collision between an aircraft and a fish, the first having occurred in 1987 between a fish and a Boeing 737 taking off from Juneau, Alaska. (The Tampa Tribune and The New York Times)

Investigators concluded that the pilot of a Mozambican Airlines flight bound for Angola deliberately crashed the plane while his co-pilot was using the toilet. All 33 people on board died when the plane plunged from 38,000 feet. Recordings from the recovered black box show a rapid descent and repeated banging on the cockpit door, either from the co-pilot or passengers. (Britain’s Daily Mail)

Slightest provocationFred John Govern, 92, died from cardiac arrest after a fistfight at a nursing home in Orwigsburg, Pa., that started when another resident cut in line at dinner. “My father had to have said something to him about jumping the line, which I know he would do, knowing my father,” Fred Govern Jr. said. “The guy just turned around when my father checked him and started punching him.” (Philadelphia’s WPVI-TV)

When a man refused to buy a woman with him a McFlurry at a McDonald’s restaurant in Jacksonville, Fla., witnesses said the woman headed for his car, poured alcohol and gasoline on it, lit it on fire and then ran off. After people helped the man put out the fire, he drove away. (Orlando’s WFTV-TV)

Police reported that a 20-year-old man was eating with a friend at a Taco Bell restaurant in Tega Cay, S.C., when a man at another booth asked him if he had belched without saying “excuse me.” The man then walked over and attacked the 20-year-old with a chair, grabbed his throat and tried to head-butt him before a restaurant worker told the assailant to leave. (Associated Press)

Who’s laughing now?Hyenas communicate through their backsides, according to Michigan State University researcher Kevin Theis, who has devoted his career to studying the contents of pouches next to the hyenas’ anuses. The animals smear the pungent material, called hyena butter, on plants for other hyenas to sniff. Theis compared the hyena butter of four distinct species and concluded that the butter of more gregarious ones contained more complex information. Theis has yet to determine exactly what the messages contain or how the system of communication evolved, but his research is continuing. (The Economist)

NIMBY nincompoopAs CEO of ExxonMobil, Rex Tillerson promotes hydraulic fracturing and condemns its critics and “dysfunctional regulation” that he insists “is holding back the American economic recovery, growth and global competitiveness.” As a homeowner, however, Tillerson has joined a lawsuit to block construction of a 160-foot tower next to his $5 million Texas home that would supply water to a nearby fracking site. The suit argues that the project would cause too much noise and traffic. Tillerson’s lawyer said his client’s concern is about the devaluation of his property, not fracking, although fracking opponent Rep. Jared Police, D-Colo., responded to Tillerson’s suit by announcing, “We are thrilled to have the CEO of a major international oil and gas corporation join our quickly multiplying ranks.” (The Wall Street Journal)

Child’s PlayThe driver of a car that got stuck in a ditch in Vestoppland, Norway, told a passing snowplow operator that he ran off the road while making a U-turn to return home to get his driver’s license. When the plow operator eyed him suspiciously, the diminutive driver explained that he was a dwarf. He was actually a 10-year-old boy joyriding with his 18-month-old sister in their family car. “He asked for help to tow his vehicle so they could continue their journey,” police Officer Kai Lyshaugen said. Instead, the plow operator notified the authorities. (United Press International)Compiled from mainstream news sources by Roland Sweet. Authentication on demand.